DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, members of the DC Council, and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton gathered on Capitol Hill Monday to try to urge Congress to fix a spending plan that would rip around a billion dollars from the District’s budget. Norton proposed a legislative fix, but that failed on a party line vote.
What the heck is happening?
House Republicans introduced a stopgap spending bill over the weekend that, if passed, would avoid a government shutdown. The bill omitted language, traditionally included in such measures, that allows DC to continue spending at its current levels. If the bill passes, the Washington Post reports, the District “would be treated as a federal agency and be forced to revert to its 2024 budget spending levels for the remaining six months of this fiscal year, until Oct. 1.”
What kind of cuts would be necessary?
DC lawmakers say they’d have less than a week to cut the around $1.1 billion, which could mean $300 million cut from education, $67 million in funding to the cops, and $42 million to firefighters, Martin Austermuhle reports. US Representative Tom Cole, who chairs the House’s Appropriations Committee, disagrees, telling the Post that ” We’ve not taken anything out of there that substantively affects the day-to-day operation of municipal services.”
Was DC’s budget out of whack?
No, the District passed a balanced budget last year, as it has for almost three decades. Federal funds account for less than one percent of direct revenues for the District, in addition to about 24 percent of grants like those received by every other state. Seventy-five percent of DC’s budget comes from money raised by taxes and fees locally.
So why can’t DC spend its own money?
Because it’s got no voting representation in Congress, and Republicans enjoy kicking DC around.
Is there any way to fix this?
The House is one-half of Congress. Any continuing resolution would have to pass the Senate, where Democrats, who are in the minority, risk getting blamed for a shutdown if they oppose it. Gulp.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
